When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political ties which have connected them with another and assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station for which the laws of nature and its Author entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are born equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights: that among these the principal ones are the security of liberty and life, which constitute human happiness; that to secure these rights governments were instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the society to alter it, or to abolish it and institute a new one, laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in a manner it judges most conducive to effect its security and happiness. Prudence, indeed, dictates that established governments should not change for light and transient causes; and experience has shown that mankind is more disposed to suffer, while the evils are sufferable, than to right itself by abolishing the forms of government to which it has been accustomed. But when a train of abuses and usurpations, continuing invariably towards the same end, makes it clear that it is the will of the rulers to oppress the people with absolute despotism, it is their right and their duty to throw away such a government and provide new guards for their future security.